2012-09-01 Michigan March for Integrity

[Science Monk]

[This event is over. Links to press coverage are below.]

Below is a message from Norm Cohen, Director of NOCIRC of Michigan. He is organizing a protest march:

***BEGIN message from Norm Cohen***
Michigan March for Integrity

Saturday, SEPTEMBER 1ST, 2012 at 12:00 pm

The Michigan protest against the new recommendation for circumcision by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Royal Oak Beaumont Hospital
13 Mile Rd and Woodward Ave
3601 W. 13 Mile Rd.
Royal Oak, MI 48073

For boys. For mothers. For men. For fathers.

For yourself. Be there!

Co-sponsored by NOCIRC of Michigan and Intact Michigan

We need 20 people to commit to showing up and making this march a success!

All signage will be provided.

All official participants must RSVP in advance AND accept our protest guidelines. News media will be there!

Wear RED CLOTHESif possible to aid in our visibility on the street!

Children welcome.

PLEASE REPOST THIS MESSAGE!

On behalf of all the children, thanks,

Norm Cohen
Director
NOCIRC of Michigan
Birmingham, MI

NormCohen@NOCIRCofMI.org

http://www.nocircofmi.org/

(248) 642-5703
***END of message from Norm Cohen***

Also, please participate in the email campaign:
Email AAP's Board of Directors to not endorse routine circumcision!
http://foreskin-restoration.net/foru...ad.php?t=10763
This is important! It was a similar write-in campaign to the AAP Board of Directors in 2010 that got reversal of the decision of AAP Bioethics Committee condoning token, ritual pin pricks for girls.

[Science Monk]

Detroit-area intactivists:
Be there at the rally in Royal Oak, Saturday, September 1, 2012, noon.
Be there in protest of the AAP's endorsement of circ.

David
World As Monkey Island

[Science Monk]

We are pleased that a substantial number of people have already registered to participate in this event, but we are still recruiting for more.
Right now, it looks like we will have enough people to really March for Integrity, not just picket.

David
World As Monkey Island

[Science Monk]

The Michigan March for Integrity will begin in less than 24 hours.

To participate, contact Norm Cohen at NOCIRC of Michigan pronto!

Families are very welcome at this event.

David
World As Monkey Island

[Science Monk]

Press coverage:

2012-08-31 The Detroit News - Protest against circumcision planned at Beaumont
http://foreskin-restoration.net/foru...ad.php?t=12219

2012-08-31 Oakland Press - Group of Oakland County residents hold anti-circumcision protest
http://foreskin-restoration.net/foru...ad.php?t=12218

[admin]

Wish I could have joined in.

How'd you do?

[Science Monk]

The turnout was more than expected! 42 Michigan intactivists were there to march!

As it turned out, it was easier to recruit people for a street protest than to staff the NOCIRC booth for the 4-day long Ann Arbor Street Art Fair. 12 people signed up for that. With the additional 2 restoring men recruited via this Forum while the Fair was running, a total of 14 people worked to keep the booth running. The Ann Arbor Art Fair has long been the major NOCIRC event in Michigan each year. In terms of number of volunteers, this event unexpectedly trumped it - and trumped it in glorious fashion. Perhaps people feel that they don't know enough to work an information booth, but do feel that they want to stand up and be counted when a street protest is to be held.

Congratulations to Norm Cohen for pulling this protest off.
We are all very pleased with how NOCIRC of Michigan's street protest went.

David
World As Monkey Island

[tony12345]

Great job!!

[Science Monk]

Photos of the Michigan March for Integrity at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak (a suburb of Detroit):

IMG_1405.small.jpg

IMG_1412.small.jpg

The protest took place in front of William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, the largest hospital in Oakland County. Oakland County is just north of the City of Detroit (which is in Wayne County) and is home to some of metro Detroit's most properous suburbs. In decades past, Oakland County often ranked as the nation's second richest county, behind Orange County, California. But due to the declining fortunes of the domestic auto industry, Oakland County's ranking has slipped to 14th...or 17th...or 20th (glub! glub! glub!...down! down! down!) richest (Still not bad, but the politics of decline reign.). William Beaumont Hospital - not General Motors - is now Oakland County's biggest employer. I think that William Beaumont Hospital was a good target of the NOCIRC portest because of what two different young mothers told me about their birthing experiences when I was staffing a NOCIRC table at a baby fair. They both said that, yes, they were told by hospital staff that they have a choice, but they felt that circumcision was still being pushed by Beaumont staff. They both said they wished they had met us NOCIRC people first.

The protesters then marched to the busy interesection of Woodward Ave. and 13 Mile Road to get even more exposure. Woodward Ave. is Detroit's main street, and it continues through Oakland County's suburbs and runs all the way to the City of Pontiac about 30 miles away. Royal Oak was also hosting "Arts, Beats, and Eats," the largest Labor Day weekend arts-music-food street festival in the metro Detroit area, and people going back and forth to the festival saw the NOCIRC protest.